Vision: A Cautionary Tale
by VISI0N
Summary: Vision gives a look into the unavoidable ascendancy of Artificial Intelligence and the impact it has on a society that is extremely volatile after a chain of disastrous events. The story's perspective follows the ambitious doctor engineer Levi Cross, as he sets out to shape a better tomorrow.
1. Chapter 1

_This is a work of (science) fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, business establishments, or locales is entirely coincidental._

VISION: A Cautionary Tale

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

"Levi Cross." A buzz came from the speaker as Levi put his hands back into his pockets. The noise echoed away, as the streets are still covered in a shifting white haze with the early sun rays visible in it. A cloud of vapor escaped Levi's mouth, as his alertness sank away, looking over the complex' front garden.

What happened before is irrelevant. His former life had just ended, the chapter finished, and he was about to start anew.

Another cue made Levi snap back. He turned around as the doors of the facility opened like gates of a castles. The mystique amplified by a heavy mechanical growling as the doors unlocked from fortification. Hesitantly, he stepped inside.

"Proceed to the screening tube." A woman's voice told him. Even though bewildered by the concept, the term was illustrative enough for Levi to incentively walk towards the intended chamber. He stepped inside into the bright white tunnel as glowing footprints displayed in front of him on the floor. "Follow the pace of the footprints."

The scenic tube created the illusion Levi was heading to paradise, but at the end of the tunnel, 2 men standing denied the existence of such destination. A brief "All good" was shared, after which Levi was send through another pair of doors, opening with less spectacle than the former.

Yet, these doors hid a much more fantastical scene behind them. On the platinum white wall housing an extensive aquarium, a plaque displays the company's name: The _Sonder Institute_ , a coalition of the world's most significant freethinkers. Levi was in the hypocenter of the technological earthquake that has struck the world a few years ago.

"Ah, Doctor Cross." A calm voice grabbed Levi's attention. "I'm gratified with your arrival." He turned to the direction of the source, seeing a bald man with a hell of a beard. He was just around his size, but with a width of almost twice Levi's own slim body.

"Doctor Longshaw, I'm honored to have been invited." A stern handshake followed. Longshaw's grip didn't allow Levi to clench his hand in return, brought up a brief moment of silence and they continued to shake hands to cover the silence.

"Ready for today?" Longshaw continued as they released their hands from each other.

"Ready for any day." Levi responded confidently.

"That's the right attitude. I expect you are keen on seeing the project."

"Most certainly, sir."

"Well then, let's not waste anymore time, shall we?" Longshaw turned around a paved a way through the building in a steady pace, leaving Levi behind in his trail. He took the opportunity to peek around in the sterile white hallways they trotted. Unfortunately, computer work was in great display, while Levi had hoped to see new methods of research and development.

"If you don't mind, is there any chance you could tell me why you decided to approach me."

"I'm a fan of your work, mister Cross. We all are, in fact" Levi had published multiple reports on modeling a human brain, but the amount of acclaim he got on them surprised every time someone mentioned it. It was mostly work he had done from home and he considered it unpolished and unprofessional.

They stopped at a closed door, the third locked one Cross was going to step through. Longshaw entered the code on a display, turning his body in between Levi and the display to not show the code to him.

"Your studies are of much use to us, so having you actually working directly with us..."

Before he finished the actual sentence, the door unlocked. The message behind his last sentence was clear enough for Longshaw to finish speaking and for Levi not to ask him to continue. Longshaw opened the door, stepped into the doorway and posed to let Levi pass by.

"We'll send the code with your first paycheck." He said as a friendly smirk appeared on below the thick mustache.

Despite being an increment, the new job did little to nothing to interrupt the established routine of Levi's former job. It's as if he is in an endless chase of making his magnum opus; _Ann_. Yet, his expertise in cellular behavior replication and simulation meant he is the missing link in a combined effort of creating intelligence.

 _Ann_ , according to conventional meanings, has already been created. Only Levi doesn't consider his idea to be fully realized. If there was no clear 'second life', he was dissatisfied with the result. Up until now, feeling that he has grasped a new level. No matter how much resistance it will generate once the report is published, they are surely a step closer, even though the end isn't in sight yet.

"Who are you?" That's what they asked the model. They were a few weeks into the project, having finalized the prototype to a functioning model. The command was inserted through sound, rather than code.

"I don't know." Appeared on the screen of the model. An adequate answer was expected, as making models respond in correct english had been achieved decades before. "Could you tell me?" Appeared beneath the previous sentence.

"I can't." Levi lied to it, because asking for identity wasn't revolutionary either. Many advanced AI systems are already looking for objectives and assignments. They scan their program and find that they are programmed to do something, but a blank space fills that something they are supposed to do.

It remained silent. Their waiting in anticipation turned into slight boredom, as minutes passed by without an answer. They checked multiple times that the machine didn't deactivate itself, but each time they found out that it was still calculating a proper reaction.

"Then why am I here?" The answer came out of the sudden. The team looked at each other, all their thoughts synchronized. They were perplexed.

They shut it down after that. The essence then was to find out why it questioned its existence; Because of following protocol through a series of impulses, or if there was cognitive development possible.

The latter hypothesis was proven to be false, but the first one also wasn't fully correct. A grey middle ground as answer means a breakthrough in the field. The newly written EA did its designed work, rapidly improving the model's intelligence to the point it began asking ethical questions itself, rather than providing answers to them.

The model's code was suitably named _Peregrine_ , the fastest of its kind on the planet.

* * *

— \\\|/ —


	2. Chapter 2

_This is a work of (science) fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, business establishments, or locales is entirely coincidental._

VISION: A Cautionary Tale

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

Levi highlighted strings of code on his computer, before archiving the file. The _peregrine_ project was put on hold. It was deemed to be finished and the government regulations forced them to apply for further experimentations with the model, because people were afraid for AI's to start going rampant. However, Levi felt that the code in itself would mean a lot to the corporations, who are looking for advanced programs to run their ARC minds with.

It was his creation after all. He could do whatever he wanted with it, that was the beauty of America. However, he was now a part of a team, so had different priorities than to pursue his own ambitions.

He shut off his computer and went to his living room.

"Jibo, turn on and go to Channel 3." The TV turned on. Like all households, most electronics were on voice commands. Levi's expertise with AI only increased the need to have AI around him at all times inside the house. Jibo was a standard market product, but Levi had made some 'adjustments' as he would say.

He walked to the kitchen while in the background, a female announcer hosts the news flash.

Levi places a plate of leftovers in a polymer-glass fiber heater, while listening to the news in the background. The host mentions that recovery workers have discovered another mass grave dungeon in North Korea, holding decayed corpses of men, women and children, and that the Korean government is expressing the urgency of revitalizing the northern part of the nation.

Levi takes the plate from the heater and goes back to the living room. The situation in Korea was going on for a few months now, but Levi was, unlike the majority of the Americans, unimpressed by it. He understood that it painted a scary picture, but he knew that the home front wasn't in the same position as the Korean peninsula.

However, the next news flash contrasted that, as it was a boring news item for the everyone but him. He had collapsed into his chair, ready to eat, but when the message had reached him, he sprung up and forgot to eat.

The president was barely 2 weeks in office, but that didn't mean the mass wanted a definitive answer. He had promised to objectively consider regulations on transhumanism, while during his campaign he reached out to the majority of people by saying these development needed regulations in some form. While many put their money on him not doing anything in the end, he decided to grasp this subject during prime time, thus creating a stir of excitement and nervousness all over the nation.

Decades of recession and misery broke people's spirit. The age of the individual, which started in the Renaissance, came to an abrupt end. People sought shelter in religion, causing Christianity, the Islam and Judaism to spike again in not only the United States, but across the world. A phenomenon Karl Marx perfectly knew to describe: _Religion is the opium of the people_.

At first, theism and scientific research coexisted naturally. However, Christian groups increasingly oppose scientific developments, feeling that the creation and intended destination of God are intervened by human practices. This has been an issue for centuries, yet due to the rise of religious people, the majority of the population opposes it, causing the government to adjust their reign slightly but surely into the direction of a theocracy.

"Jibo, turn off." Levi commanded. He took his plate and sighed, proceeding to eat his dinner agitated.

A few days later, Levi is with his colleagues on a metro line on their way to a _Sonder Institute_ sister location, named _Galant_. It was more like the big brother, being the three times the size of the facility where Levi worked. The metro approached the massive complex, heavily guarded and surrounded by protestors.

"They are here twenty-four-seven. They want to burn us at the stake." Longshaw proclaimed as they overlooked the entrance of the _Galant_ through the metro window.

"Well, we do want to deny them paradise." Levi responded, unfazed by the mass in front of him.

"I thought we wanted to bring it to earth."

"That's what I signed up for." They grinned.

"If we do so, that would 'kill' their god."

"We could clone it if that happens." Their grin turned into a laugh out loud.

Two minutes later, they went into the building through a backdoor. Security cleared them to their room. With no time to waste, they went to work immediately.

The reason they were at _Galant_ was to see if quantum teleportation was applicable to a galvanizing program in a conductive gel. The research was a scrap of multiple disciplines, including research to artificial organs, operant DDoS's and most importantly, transmitting brain impulses to different embodiments.

The quantum teleportation was already in widespread use, both civilian and military use. The internet is the most well-known user of quantum teleportation, sending the majority of files to servers in a chain link, veiling these files from interceptors and hackers and also amping up the speed significantly. The military used it in a similar fashion, with communications between soldiers using quantum teleportation.

The project remained tight on schedule. They managed to translate an AI program into electroshocks, effectively animating a subject; a green, slimy blob of polymers. They created three more of these and phase 2 went into effect: Let the subjects communicate.

This proved to be harder than expected. The subjects perfectly mirrored the other's movement, showing that information could be quantum teleported between subjects. The team struggled to let the programs anticipate, which required a lot more of data to be send over in a shorter amount of time. Eventually, the subjects managed to simulate a perfect cooperation of organs. They continued to test alterations to the programs, like placing obstructions, distorters and damaging 'organs'.

At the end of their research, Levi took the opportunity to test out _Peregrine_ once more. While the others were disposing of their equipment, Levi plugged in a data drive containing the code into one of the galvanizers, reactivating the subjects. However, the subjects stopped vibrating and remained completely still. Levi was annoyed, until suddenly he remembered what happened with the model.

"Hey, does anyone have an idea of how to remotely input commands?"

The others looked at him with a puzzled expression. Shane Palmer, a theoretical physicist, was the first to respond by heading to his desk.

"What do you want exactly?"

"It needs a command before it activates."

"I - eh - should have something" Palmer digs through his supplies, finding a tablet and hands it to Levi. "This'll do."

Levi connects the tablet to the galvanizer. It boots up, but the tablet only displays source code. Levi scrolls through it, noticing that the code is still intact from his data drive. He enters a command at an empty space: Activate.

The blob suddenly starts having minor vibration, just as it had before Levi uploaded _Peregrine_ into it. However, the vibration amplitude increases overtime.

"Guys, take a look at this." Levi shouted, while the others gathered around it.

"What did you do?" Longshaw wondered while admiring the blob.

"Remember the model we build, I inserted it into the subjects." He looks to the side, seeing that the other subjects start mimicking the movement of the _P_ _eregrine_ subject, but it changes into non-synced vibrations.

"It's communicating." Palmer noticed. "It's much faster than the program we tested."

Suddenly, the subjects quickly deactivate. They implode, splashing green goo around, and the remains stay completely motionless. The team is still astonished by it and take a moment to grasp what happened. The galvanizers were fried, thus the data of _Peregrine_ 's operation was lost forever.

After cleaning the place and storing their equipment, Levi heads to the metro line. He leaves the complex' door surrounded by security agents, stepping through the angry mob outside yelling at him, like they do to everyone leaving the building. The protest started getting out of hand. Protected by the right of free speech, there was little the security could do to send them away. It's the land of the free.

However, Levi doesn't mind the protestors, as his thoughts drift to the _Peregrine_ experiment.

 _"What could have happened?"_ He thought, as he firmly held the crashed tablet in his hand in his pocket.

* * *

— 7_ —


	3. Chapter 3

_This is a work of (science) fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, business establishments, or locales is entirely coincidental._

VISION: A Cautionary Tale

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

Levi's apartment is slightly illuminated by a dim light above his desk. His head is resting in his arms on the desk. He spend the weekend at home, unsuccessfully trying to recover any data from the crashed tablet.

An alarm goes off and Levi growls. He ignored the cluttered rubbish around while making his way to his closet. He put on his sleek coat and proceeded to leave the apartment without tidying up.

The streets were once again covered in white haze as Levi stepped out of the metro line in front of the _Galant_. The sun slowly rose above the horizon, coloring the city's overview orange. For once, the protestors were mute, as most of them were still in a semi-conscious sleeping state. One guy noticed Levi and jumped up.

"The second coming is near! You heathens will not be accepted in paradise!" He continued with praising God as Levi stepped through the security gates of the _Galant._

"I genuinely appreciate you all." Levi sighed to the guards, as they were searching him. A guard, who was feeling for equipment in his pockets, looks up to Levi.

"It's what we get paid for."

Levi proceeds to his designated research room. However, 2 lab coats escorted by security halted him.

"That's the guy, he just got in." One guard told the lab coats while pointing at Levi, who hesitates and doubts wether to talk or walk.

"What's the problem?" He responded curtly, swallowing the last syllable while scratching his head. One of the lab coats, a slim, tall, balding male with grey hair, raises his hands.

"It's okay, we'll take it from here." He said to the guards, who nodded and walked away. The other lab coat, a regular sized, short brown haired male, reaches for Levi's hand.

"Levi Cross, the name's Lyndon Smart." They shake hands. "And this is my supervisor, Doctor Hal Rubin."

"How are you doing, doctor Cross?" Rubin said while reaching for Levi's hand. "Sorry if we startled you, but these guys are very good in finding every person in this building." They shook hands, while Levi forgot to say anything for a brief second.

Doctor Hal Rubin was a renowned scientist. His name was on almost all of the most significant researches and findings in the last decade. He was the face for the futurist movement in America, even running for the last presidential elections. Unfortunately, this caused his reputation to shiver among the common American, who passionately opposed his progressive views.

Levi snapped back after letting his thoughts drift.

"It's no problem at all, mister Rubin."

"Would you like to join us in my office."

"Certainly."

Rubin's room was on the top floor. Relatively, it was gigantic compared to all other offices in the building. It wasn't a regular office, as it was an outfitted laboratory too.

"Are all politicians here insane? Or just plain stupid?" Rubin exclaims while the other two laugh subtly.

"Or maybe just cowards, huh?" Smart responds.

"Yeah..." Rubin grins. The room is silent for a few seconds, after Rubin explained his frustration with the current government. Levi breaks the silence.

"So, why did you invite me here?" Rubin and Smart locked eyes, and the former nodded to latter.

"Well, mister Cross. We have reviewed your latest researches. And we must say; Stellar work." Smart said. Levi nodded slightly out of gratitude. "We believe that your latest developed code could be vital to our research."

"How familiar are you with the transhuman concept?" Rubin stepped in.

"Well - eh - I'm familiar with most of your works."

"That's not what I asked." Rubin cut off Levi. "How familiar are you with the transhuman concept?"

"I don't quite understand-"

"Do you have any experience with working on a project in line of the transhuman movement?" Smart explained Rubin's question. Levi stopped for a moment to think.

"I don't think so." He eventually responded. "I'm mostly involved with engineering artificial intelligence."

"And that's going great as we can tell." Rubin said. "Your ability to replicate human brain activity in form of code is what we need. Let me explain by showing you what we are working on." Rubin touches his holoboard, causing an hologram to display on his desk. The hologram shows a computer installation and an operating table next to it. "The exocortex..." Rubin looked with desire at the hologram, as if he was in love with it. Smart continued where Rubin left.

"This installation is trying to transfer the human brain wireless into the computer and vice versa."

"How could that be possible?" Levi wondered.

"We are far with the installation." Smart said. "We have actually managed to send thoughts from the computer to the human brain, although that was with a wire and the other way around, it didn't do anything."

"With what do you think I can assist?"

"The code you created managed to translate human impulses into electric impulses, fitting the computer. With your insights, we should be able to create an hardwired grid that could translate human impulses on a broader scale. If we create an engine allowing these impulses to power a computer, we can effectively place the brain into the computer through quantum teleportation of these impulses."

Levi took a second to grasp that all. Rubin took this opportunity to tell more about the project.

"The technology we create is extraordinary. Our intelligence allows us to create what we create. But there's a limit. At some point, we won't be able to solve problems." Rubin paused for a brief moment. "A transhuman is the next evolution. If we manage to make this project succeed, it will be the beginning to our advancement. It will be a matter of time before we will be able to compress this technology. We will be able to process information like computers."

Rubin turns off the hologram.

"People fear that the rise of artificial intelligence will lead to a singularity event. That's why we have these regulations."

"I'm familiar with those, yes." Levi responded curtly.

"It's a scary thought, having a computer inside your mind. But there's no better way to control the technology we create than to be the technology ourselves."

Levi nodded, as Smart stood up from his chair.

"We'll send you our preliminary research to your office." Smart said while walking towards to door. Levi took this as a hint of him having to go, as Rubin also stood up and walked away into a backroom. At the door, Smart held Levi. "I don't know if you are aware of the consequences that this research could bring you."

"What consequences?"

"Your name will be spoken in one breath with ours. They'll scream for your head."

Levi locked eyes with Smart, who looked sternly at the disturbed Levi.

"You need to be sure you can handle that." He continued.

Levi paused for a second, but his expression changed to determination.

"That's what I signed up for."

* * *

— VII —


	4. Chapter 4

_This is a work of (science) fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, business establishments, or locales is entirely coincidental._

VISION: A Cautionary Tale

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

Almost 2 month had passed by. Levi had been working nearly everyday at the _Galant_ , only staying at home on Saturdays. Normally, he would have taken the days off on Sundays, but most of the protestors were at the church on that day. The relative silence was something he enjoyed and made his walk from the metro to the _Galant_ less of a pain.

It was in that sense a regular Sunday. Almost nobody had shown up to shout to him for all the sins he was about to commit. A lone, disfigured and paraplegic man sitting a wheelchair caught his eye. He almost felt some empathy for the man, until he saw the sign that he was holding:

''FAITH IN GOD – NOT TRANSHUMAN SCIENCE''

People, like the man, believe that suffering is part of something bigger. "There is no misery, when there is faith." They say. 'Faith'. The word has become synonymous with progress. Levi never had faith, he had taught himself to fix his problems. Waiting for God to help left his family ravaged. This feeling of being cheated on resulted in Levi opposing everything that was related to God.

And that lead him to wanting to kill the idea.

"The machine is functioning normally. We should be able to begin." Smart said as he was booting up the Exocortex.

"Good. Levi, bring in the volunteer." Rubin responded as he made his way to the table.

Levi walked towards the door and opened it. The volunteer was surrounded by 3 other specialist, who walked him through the briefing. He beckoned the volunteer to come in, who stood up and shook hands with Levi.

Levi didn't ask for his name. It was one of the many faces he had seen in the last 2 months, after about 10 people he didn't bother to ask for their names anymore. It was just another being, living his own life, only appearing at the same crossroad to eventually walk the other way.

He assigned him where to lie down and sat down behind the computer as Smart put him in an artificial sleep.

"Okay, turn it on." Rubin commanded. Levi opened the data receiving program as Smart pushed on the quantum teleportation transmitter connected to the volunteers brain. "All right mister Shuman, can you hear me?"

Rubin looked at Levi, who looked at the screen. The wavelength started moving and a section of the model of the brain lighted up. In the top right corner, a coded message appeared in a message box. Levi rose his thumb, signaling he indeed heard Rubin.

"Great. I'm going to walk you through this..." Rubin continued. "We are going to send you imagery with questions. We want you to answer these questions, you understand." Rubin looked at Levi, who saw on his screen that he understood. Rubin signaled Smart, who walked towards Shuman, hovering his hand over another transmitter.

"Just relax and focus on the questions." Rubin said to Shuman as he turned to Levi. "Turn it on." He whispered. Levi opened a new program and turned it on. They waited in anticipation for a few seconds, as activity began to appear on the screen.

This had been achieved a few weeks before. They thought they managed to put the human brain into the computer, but it turned out all activity was still taking place inside the brain and not in the computer. While a breakthrough in the field of robotics, they weren't satisfied with the finding, because a few years before them other scientists were able to copy and paste human emotions into robots, effectively creating a second version of that person.

However, what troubled the team was that the robot was essentially a clone and that the awareness of a person wasn't transferred into a new body, allowing people to become immortal. While they were getting closer, they hadn't really found the solution yet.

Yet was the keyword, as suddenly the activity on the screen multiplied. Levi jumped up, nodding that it was working. In rapid succession, answers appeared in the top right message box.

The euphoria was short-lived. After Smart turned on the second transmitter, activity on the screen stopped and Shuman's body started spasming.

"He is fighting against it." Smart noted.

"Turn it off!" Rubin thundered.

Levi turned off the programs and Smart deactivated both transmitters. Shuman woke up disoriented. Smart helped him up and escorted him out, while Rubin was clearly agitated by the end result.

Minutes went by as the 3 sat and stood, thinking what could've gone wrong.

"We are getting close." Rubin said. "We cannot back down now." Levi, who was already tired, sighed deep and scratched his head.

"Maybe we can't transfer the ghost." He said, causing the other 2 looking confused at him. "You know, the soul."

"I don't know what you are on about. What has that spiritual nonsense to do with this?"

"Well..." Levi paused for a bit. "The ghost in the machine, the soul in the body, the illusion of human perception. What makes us look through our own eyes and not those of others."

"We have been able to transfer volunteers' perception into the exocortex for a few times now." Smart replied.

"How do you know?" Levi countered a bit curtly. "Have you experienced it?"

"Well, the tests indicate that-"

"That the awareness remains in the brain." Levi finished the sentence for Smart. "Isn't that what we want to reach? To put our awareness into the computer."

"I think we have discussed this before, Cross." Rubin stepped in. "We know our goals."

"But we are not reaching them." Levi stood up, as Rubin faced away to look outside and Smart looked to the ceiling, stroking his face out of fatigue. "...Boot it up again." Rubin and Smart both turned to Levi. "I'll be the volunteer."

Minutes passed until Levi was ready for the experiment.

"You ready?" Smart asked as he sat on Levi's place.

"Yeah, let's go." Levi responded. Seconds later, he woke up in a void. The sound of Rubin asking the routine question echoed and Levi wanted to speak up, but couldn't. He could only think, so he thought of yes.

"You are going to see multiple images with questions. Answer them accordingly." Rubin's voice echoed.

The images flashed by. Simple questions, like what's your name and where were you born, alternated with difficult mathematical and physical problems. Levi tried to answer all the questions as good as possible, but suddenly his vision turned dark again.

It didn't stay black for long, as suddenly a huge wave of information skipped through his thoughts, causing Levi's mind to overload with information. Levi felt as being struck by lightning, as everything was flashing by.

However, he felt tranquility when images of a falcon passed by. His thoughts relaxed and it stopped at the image of his family. On that image stood father, mother, son and daughter, all looking happy. The image faded out however, instead replaced by an echoing sound.

"You can't fix them. You can only save others."

Suddenly, Levi's eyes opened. Rubin hung over him, keeping Levi's eyes open with his fingers.

"He's awake." Levi only vaguely heard him.

After coming to senses for a brief minute, Levi sat down straight up.

"So what happened?" He said, while still a little bit grasping for air. Smart looked to Rubin, smirking a bit.

"You're a tough son of a bitch, you know." Smart said. Levi looked a bit confused "You held out for almost 30 seconds after we suppressed your brain activity."

"30 seconds?" Levi questioned that, as it felt he was longer than 30 seconds in the void. "It felt like a few minutes." Rubin nodded.

"That means it wasn't a hoax. What was it like?" Rubin asked.

"Painful." Levi immediately responded. Smart frowned and looked at Rubin, who nodded once again.

"The amount of information your brain had to process must have been to much, as it had access to all the information inside the computer. The amount of impulses must've created the pain sensation." Rubin concluded.

"But then..." Levi paused, but Rubin and Smart both rose their attention. "It became serene." The others looked confused. "I saw... Peregrine."

"What?"

"I saw a falcon. It guided my thoughts." He was going to continue about what he saw, but he swallowed his words. "I must associate the code with the image of a Peregrine falcon." The discovery astonished all 3.

"The code must be working under the influence of the impulses." Rubin said. "If what I think is true, then your code is working, but not as we thought it would..." He walked towards the window, he looked outside.

"What do you think?" Smart asked.

Rubin stared out the window, not immediately responding. Levi and Smart locked eyes, both having no idea what Rubin was thinking about.

"I don't know right now." Rubin hastily threw out of his mouth. "You two take the week off, I gotta meet with an associate." He walked in a straight line out of the room into his office, leaving Smart and Levi behind.

They speculated about it for a few minutes, but nothing made sense anymore. They left _Galant_ more confused than ever before and the whole ride home went by in a blink as Levi was sunken into his thoughts.

He stepped back into his apartment and plopped down into the nearest chair. He was about to fall asleep right away, the whole experience of that day exhausted him. His eyes remained idle looking at the wall, focusing where a small portrait hung. On it was a picture he saw while in the void.

It was a family, looking happy.

* * *

— ! —


	5. Chapter 5

_This is a work of (science) fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, business establishments, or locales is entirely coincidental._

VISION: A Cautionary Tale

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

Levi sat in his chair, leaning back while tumbling a pencil in his hand. On the desk was a sketch, roughly resembling a bird, created out of drawing straight lines in symmetry. He hadn't done much the last two days, since there hadn't been any word from Rubin ever since the last experiment and thus all there was left to do was to wonder what happened.

He decided to take a walk to clear his mind. As he put on his coat, he grabbed the sketch and rumpled it, muffling it into his pocket.

As he stepped into the open wilderness that was his hometown, he thought about what to do with the experiment. He felt like the experiment had failed, as a major obstacle had appeared. A principle for what he didn't know a solution. All he had was a empirical eyes-on with the effects.

Thinking about the experience, Levi decided to grab his phone and access the CtEN network, looking for the address of the asylum. His fingered hovered over the button to set out a route towards it, but eventually he went through with it and headed to the asylum.

He took his time as he bypassed the quickest route by walking through the park. But eventually, he had to get there. As he arrived at it, he hesitated again.

After staring at the asylum for about half an hour and getting weird faces from people entering the asylum, he stepped into the asylum, avoiding any eye contact with all the patients meeting with friends and family he had just seen before. He approached the receptionist with his left hand blocking his sidesight.

"What can I do for you, sir?" She asked kindly.

"I was wondering if Hailey, eh, Klein is at work today." Levi answered, as he was too curious to not grasp a look at some of the patients.

"Yes she is. Should I make a call for her to come see you." She asked as Levi turned back to her.

"Uhm, no that is not necessary."

"Then what do you need, sir?"

"Could you tell where she is right now?" Levi detected some doubt in the receptionist's face. "I got to tell her something privately." The receptionist looked past Levi, who turned around to see where she was looking at. "What's wrong?"

"I'm not supposed to let you inside without an appointment or accompanied by a staff member. You sure you don't want me to call miss Klein."

"Yes..."

"Why?" Levi doubted wether or not to tell her the truth or lie.

"She... Ehm..." Levi hesitated. "If she knows it's me, she is not going to talk to me." The receptionist looked puzzled. "Please, let me see her and I'll leave without making a noise."

The woman looked hesitant, as she slowly turned around towards the cabinet behind hind her. Levi waited nervously, as the woman opened the cabinet and grabbed a piece of paper.

"I don't want you to cause any problems." She said as she handed over the paper. "I need your CtEN registration number for reference if anything goes wrong."

"Thank you." Levi sighed in relief as he hastily wrote down his data on the form. The woman slid a keycard to Levi. He grabbed it and with a steady pace, he walked to the door and used the keycard to open it.

"You can't tell what to do! This is my world!" A man cried out in a hospital bed, flailing his body around trying to get loose of his restraints. A nurse approached her, pushing him back down.

"We're not having this discussion, mister Clayton." She urged him. "Remember, this morning, where we showed you. Your family was there." She tried to reason with him that he wasn't in his fantasy world anymore.

"This isn't real, none of this is." He respond aggressively, spanning his restraints. "Not them, not you-" The nurse tried to calm him. "Not him." The nurse stood still, as she saw the man looking past her. She turned around and saw Levi leaning in the doorway.

"Hey..." He said, as she hastily walked towards him. She dragged him out of the room, closing the door.

"What are you doing here, Levi?" She asked, looking surprised by Levi's presence.

"Seeing what my sister has been up to lately."

"Helping people." She responded agitated. "Not what you've been doing these last years." Levi lowered his head, nodding.

"I'm making the world a better place."

"Except for the people who matter." Her responses were like she spat venom towards him. Levi stroked his eyes before continuing.

"I'm not doing this right now, Hailey." He sighed. "Please..." He grabbed her shoulders, trying to look her in the eyes, but she turned away.

"All right..." She said curtly. She carefully freed herself from Levi's grip. "What do you want?"

"Is everything going good with you?"

"Yeah, fine. Considering the people I gotta take care of, I think I'm doing pretty good."

Levi peaked inside the room, seeing the man struggling to sit still in his bed.

"What's up with?"

"Oh, him. He's a mess. Hedonist Illusions is what they call it. I prefer VR addiction. Now that everyone is able to live in their dreamworlds, the real world is not as pleasant."

"It never was, eh. Give it some time and he will be okay. Dopamine releases in his head probably gave the same high as heroin or-" Hailey cut off Levi.

"Everything always has to be explained for you." Levi looked puzzled. "Why do you always want to question things?"

"Why do you always assume things are real?" He responded rhetorically.

"Please stop being so evasive, Levi. For god's sake, stop feeling like everyone's out to harm you." She responded emotionally. Levi looked away and took a brief breath.

"I didn't want to severe ties, Hailey." He sighed out. "I've tried so many times now, but you never gave anything back."

"This is not about me, this about you abandoning us!" She cried out. Levi scratched his head. "When we needed you, you left us. You destroyed our family, because you had no faith that things would be okay."

"There's no God, Hailey!" Levi shouted, causing the echo to silence the hallway. The two were fully silent as their eyes locked, staring right through each other. The patient from to room heard the noise and start wandering who was calling for him. "Nobody was going to save us... I wasn't going to die there."

"And that's where you are wrong. I survived."

From the doors of the hallway, a security member entered the hallway, shouting what is going on. Levi turned around and walked towards the security member, who tried to detain him but Levi walked right past him. He walked past the reception.

"I won't be coming back anytime soon, miss." Levi said to the receptionist before she could ask what happened.

* * *

— |2 —


	6. Chapter 6

_This is a work of (science) fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, business establishments, or locales is entirely coincidental._

VISION: A Cautionary Tale

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

After another day of maddening silence and a hangover of his meeting with Hailey, Levi contacted Smart. Why wasn't that clear, the distraction was all he wanted. Luckily for him, Smart had the much needed distraction and maybe even more.

Smart was on a leisure trip with fellow graduators of the Massachusetts University and Levi's almost infamous reputation as the man sealing God's fate. That little band of national misfits accompanying Smart existed out of people with a prestigious feed in one form or another, as well as them sparking uproar by the same majority of civilians.

The group met at a Yacht Club in a coastal town in Massachusetts. A 2 hour drive awaited Levi before he joined the group enjoying themselves with some quality liquor and a game of pool.

"This game is over, I'm next." He said jokingly to Smart, who was playing a game with another man.

"Sure, go ahead. Let's see if you are just as threatening in this game as they portray you in the papers." Smart responded, the whiskey chuckling for him. He gave the pool stick to Levi, while the other man mockingly smiled at him.

"Guess I'm playing you then, huh." The man was Gabriel Dante, an international reporter and Anthropologist. His latest report was about introducing transhumance technology to local indigenous people in the depths of Congo, to study the effects of progress with little to no earlier exposure.

It was a compelling read. There was little to do in the jungles of the Congo except to follow the military around, avoiding snake bites, and to stay out of the way of bullets from guerrilla fighters. Occasionally, they would find themselves amongst a plethora of limbless and headless bodies, consoling a weeping chief whose village had just been ransacked by a looting warlord and his militia.

It was humanity in its purest form; Savage. While people in the first world always saw themselves as civilized, the last few century wasn't much better from a humane aspect.

"You really think that introducing our state-of-the-art technology is going to help these people." Levi asked Dante as he lined up a shot.

"It helped for us, considering the turbulent phase we went through." Dante responded as Levi took the shot, cueing the black ball, but failing to score. "For a long time we thought it would mean the end, but I think without the progress we made, we wouldn't have rebuild this."

"Honestly, I wish we could get some praise for what we did." Levi sighed. "Or at least some support."

"I'll tell you what." Dante started as he cued the black ball into the corner of the table. "If my hypothesis is right, and I certainly believe it, then I'll get you the much needed support to finish your project, Cross." He raised his glass. Levi smiled and raised his glass too, followed by a nod.

Throughout the rest of the day, transhumanist and other work related topics were alternated with talk about sports and women. A lot of questions about a potential misses Cross were asked, but Levi had to deny all involvement with anyone of the other gender.

"Honestly, you never mentioned anything about this." Smart said to Levi. "I mean, is it just not going well or eh..."

"No, there won't be anyone anytime soon." Levi responded reserved. "Work demands a lot already, I don't a woman to g after me as well, right?" The men laughed.

"Well said, brother."

With him, females were the worst. They seemed programmed to insisted on having a good time and then never to see each other again. When he was still in undergrad, Levi just wanted to have sex with them, so whatever went. He guarded himself vigilantly against accidentally getting one pregnant, meaning she could blackmail him to settle down. His father constantly warned him of that scenario and he took that advice to heart.

However, all that changed right after his graduation. At a nightclub he met a tall stunning woman possessing a confident glow that many people found annoyingly pretentious but deeply intoxicating.

Over the course of the evening and dancing together, he was hooked. For the first time in his life, something clicked, something of lasting importance and meaning. It was a new experience for him, catching him totally by surprise. But at three in the morning when she prepared to leave, she blew him off.

"Let's just go out sometime?" Levi asked, stumbling after her as she walked away to catch a taxi with her girlfriends. "Why not? Just something casual."

"Hm... I don't think so, champ." She said, who then grinned flirtatiously. She sped up her steps a little. "You're too nice a guy for me. It was fun dancing and all. See ya around."

"Yeah, see ya around. Bye."

Off course that didn't happen and all Levi was left was a void and a permanent image of her dancing in his mind. If she infatuated him like that, she would be the only one worth settling down for, but as the fact stands, Levi doesn't need anyone else.

A room full of geniuses, perished bottles of liquor and on the topic of women, the suggestion of going to a local strip club to blow off some steam was inevitable.

While a few had decided to depart from the endeavor, either because continuing in their state wasn't preferable, a reasonable group of six people entered the strip club, settling down at the bar with a view over the pole stage.

"Never fails to entertain me." Dante grins as he leans forward on the bar.

"You know they are fake, right?" Levi responded. The job as professional 'live adult entertainer' was as good as outlawed in the United States, mainly due to the rising movement of theocrats. To satisfy the predominately male part of the nation, robots specifically build to entertain them were build and put into effect. No sins applied, they argue.

"The only thing that makes anything real is the belief of something being real." Dante responded. "A cognitive scientist like you should be familiar with that concept."

What seemed like a curt comeback made Levi chuckle, but it had actually more to it. The more he thought about it, the more Levi realized that Dante was right. Everyone had their own views of the world and in the end, perhaps nobody is right.

* * *

— 0 —


	7. Chapter 7

_This is a work of (science) fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, business establishments, or locales is entirely coincidental._

VISION: A Cautionary Tale

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

Levi stepped back into his apartment at 2 in the morning. He went out for the night to a local nightclub, in the wake of the day out with Smart's band of scientists. However, he didn't get much further than sitting at the bar and ordering a few drinks, overlooking the youngsters on the dance floor. The whole evening he waited for the opportunity to go home, but deep inside he fought against that desire.

In a few weeks he would be 32. His life had relatively just started.

However, the moment he walked into the living room, a bright light flashed Levi.

"Sir, you have one message."

"That will come in the morning, Jibo." Levi told his AI companion.

"But sir, mister Rubin said it was urgent for you to know." Levi froze for a second. He turned around and walked to Jibo's display and pressed the button to let the recording play.

"Good evening, mister Cross. Levi. There's a conference at _Galant_ at 10 in the morning I would like you to attend. It's about a new research plan. Innovative stuff... If you were wondering what happens with the current project, that's what I want to talk with you after it. We have to talk about _Peregrine_. It's important that you are there to make the decision."

Levi stopped the recording and sat down in his desk chair. He could guess what it was going to be about. It seemed like his project is going to be ditched, either because of government pressure or just that there is no possible solution for the problem that arose in the last experiment.

The next morning, he woke up in the same chair. The vacillating in the chair slowly made him fall asleep. As he looked at his clock, he jumped up. 40 minutes left to get to the _Galant._

The ride in the metro was once a part of the morning routine. After just one week of no work, it felt like a new and exhilarating experience. The crowd protesting in front of the building also made the walk feel like a trip on the red carpet. As he entered the building, Smart was waiting for him.

"Good morning, Cross. You enjoyed your week off?" He asked as a smirk appeared on his face.

"Oh, it was lovely, Smart. Met a lot of interesting people throughout the week." They both laughed.

"I believe that it must've been wonderful. Shall we proceed to the conference room?" He made a cynical gesture. They made their way to the conference room side by side.

"You know by any chance anything about this new project." Levi whispered to Smart, who shook his head.

"No. He called me late last night, saying things had changed."

"Yeah, I also heard late." Levi responded. "He told me he wanted to inform on what was going to happen with _Peregrine_." Smart raised his eyebrows. They sat down in adjacent chairs in the back of the room.

What do you think?" Smart asked.

"What do you mean?" Levi wondered.

"You know..." Smart waved his hand to another man before turning to Levi. "What do you think is happening with it." Levi paused for a moment as the room was getting full. Before he could continue, the lights dimmed and Rubin walked on the stage.

"It's good to see everyone could make it for this event." He started. "I know it's on short notice, but time is on the essence. Last week, I was contacted one of the corporations who wish to remain anonymous for the time being. They gave me the option to start on project under their funding."

Levi peaked at Smart, whose face showed discontent. They had been approached before to work for the corporate chains, but they always preferred their individualism over the large sums of money involved. Now that Rubin seemed to have given in, clearly bothered Smart.

"Now let me explain myself. I've always remained vigilant to not sell myself for the highest bidder. But this is an opportunity that is driven by a rational choice. Our freedom of movement becomes limited with the government putting more and more regulations on our projects. This cooperation is not just them funding us. It's about them taking on the current state of government."

The audience started murmuring a bit. Rubin has been passionate about taking on the government before, but that resulted in him being detested by the entire country. Now it seemed like he had a heavyweight backing him up and he wasn't going to let that opportunity slide.

"For us, it means we got our fair share. They want us to help develop indefinite life extensions. I wouldn't want to call myself a man with a vision, if I let this opportunity pass me by..."

The rest of the conference was filled with jargon about the upcoming project, for which Rubin wanted to employ as much people as possible. After the conference ended and many people were leaving the room, Smart and Levi stood and walked to the front, where they approached Rubin.

"The man, the legend. The one who is going head on once again with the government." Smart grinned as Rubin was talking with another man.

"It was nice speaking with you. I'll let you know of any developments." Rubin said to the man as they shook hands. The man departed and Rubin turned to Smart and Levi. "It's kind of abrupt news, huh? Let's go to my office and talk about some things, shall we."

They walked to Rubin's office and sat down. Rubin sat lively in his chair, clearly in a better mood than the week before.

"So what do you think about the project?" He asked.

"I don't think I'm really qualified on these grounds." Levi responded.

"It's never too late to learn new things. I'm more than happy to have you on the project, Cross."

"But what about the other project, Hal?" Smart stepped in. "That's what we want to hear right now."

"Right..." Rubin nodded. "Well, that's how I got in contact with this corporation. I'm sorry, but I can't give you any names right now. I contacted a former colleague who is into the ARC program and they've really advanced insights on the subject."

Rubin didn't have to talk further, as Levi gathered the pieces of the puzzle together. His work got sold.

"You sold my code?" Levi asked suspicious. Rubin sighed and nodded.

"Well, not yet. It's in the clause of the contract." Levi stroked his hair. "But wait, Levi. They also want you."

Levi looked up.

"What?"

"They want you to help them on development." Rubin continued. "It's a research facility in Brussels. They are keen on finishing the project and want your jurisdiction on it."

"But why aren't we doing it." Smart responded. "We got enough resources to fund the project for another decade."

"The government is the problem, Lyndon." Rubin told him. "We got room to breath. I applied for further development, but it was all denied. This colleague told me that in Brussels, they got the freedom to finish it. If we want the project to succeed, it's better that it is there." He finished and the room became quiet. Smart nodded in agreement.

"I'm not going to Brussels." Levi said out of the blue, surprising both Smart and Rubin.

"Why?" Smart asked.

"It's not my project anymore..."

The rest of the afternoon was spend with Rubin explaining the principles of the upcoming project and research. They would need to bring stem cell capabilities to the next level, to effectively replace decaying cells and combat the aging process. They hypothesized with nanotechnology and re-engineered DNA and slowly but surely, Levi became fascinated with the new project.

At home he would study all day, learning the principles of the human body and majoring in Biotechnology. A new world opened for Levi and what once was a job that became a drag becomes filled with mystery and wonder.

* * *

— |\\\| —


	8. Chapter 8

_This is a work of (science) fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, business establishments, or locales is entirely coincidental._

VISION: A Cautionary Tale

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

After weeks of intensive research, the _Sonder Institute_ coalition that worked on the life extension research held a special event press conference that was broadcast live on television, radio and the internet. Officially, it was about announcing the latest findings in the research, but it also was a deliberate political attempt to give out a snare to the anti-transhumanist group.

The backlash was enormous and violent protests rose across the country. Spontaneous acts of violence occurred nationwide and now Levi and the other scientists were on a constant surveillance of security.

It was a typical day to work. Levi walked with a pack of security guards towards the _Galant_. The coercion fences were pushed to the absolute limits as the aggressive group of people were shouting all possible foul words towards Levi and the guards.

A sign held by a man shouting for Levi's head caught his eye. It read:

"THEY WANT TO DESTROY HUMANITY"

The sheer stupidity and irony of that text made Levi tell the guards to hold on for a second, as he approached the man.

"I see a man too simpleminded to see what we do is for the betterment of men!" He yelled towards him.

The man reached through the fence to hold on to Levi's jacket, who let it happen as he was dragged closer to the man's face. The man pressed his face into the netting, separating his and Levi's face with only a few centimeters. He looked furious.

"If anyone is simpleminded, it's you! This isn't about you playing God. This is about what it means to be human. We aren't supposed to live forever. That is just a thought of selfish people."

The argument of the man dazzled Levi a bit, but he was waken up by the security butting his rifle into the face of the man, who fell backwards in agonizing pain. The guard grabbed Levi's arm and pulled him with him into the building.

A few minutes later, the group sat together in a briefing. They were discussing the current project, but Levi didn't want to participate in the discussion. He felt like he was out of his element. After a while, Rubin entered the room.

"The company executives are quite satisfied with our progress. We have reached our initial milestones with flying colors." He began. The group cheered a little. "If we keep up the work, we shouldn't run into any trouble down the road. Because of that, they asked us wether I were to look into a new concept."

"And what is this new concept, doctor Rubin?" A scientist asked.

"It's nothing major, I don't need everyone to put their time and resources. Anyway, it means I'll divert my focus to something else right now. You can continue with your work as planned, but for now, you're all dismissed. Take the rest of the day off." Rubin said. The crowd stood up and left. Levi grabbed his coat he had hung over his chair. "Cross, could you wait a minute."

Levi put his coat back and stepped towards Rubin, who waited before everyone had left.

"You got to do me a favor." Rubin proceeded.

"What kind of favor?" Levi asked him.

"The company is asking if I want to do research to cognitive espionage. They want me to predict thoughts through a brain scan."

"How did you plan on doing that?"

"That's what I need you for." Rubin pointed at the room with the exocortex. "You know what happens during brain activity. You can explain what area is for what."

"I suppose that's not too hard to learn, Rubin." Levi was a bit suspicious, as many scientists already road mapped the brain.

"I need you to write a code for me." Rubin told him. "One that can record the activity for me and collect the data easily, so I can write a legend for the people at the company. Could you do that for me?"

"Yeah sure, that's no problem." Levi said. "But I can also write the legend right now." Rubin shook his head.

"No that's not necessary, Levi. It's better if I do this alone."

"But it's my expertise-"

"Levi..." Rubin looked urgent. "I got to do this alone. You have to trust me." Levi hesitated.

"Fine... I'll give it to you tomorrow." He eventually said. Rubin grabbed him by his shoulders and thanked him. Levi grabbed his coat and looked back one more time, seeing Rubin disappear into the room with the exocortex.

The walk home was elevating once again. The man with who Levi had the altercation had returned, with his nose stitched up and dried blood above his lips. Levi waved and smiled at him, but received a gesture with the middle finger back.

As he walked to his apartment, he suddenly heard a woman call for his name. He turned around, seeing Hailey running towards.

"Hey." Levi said surprised.

"Hey, I had given up that you would be getting home." She gave him a hug. "Happy birthday, Levi."

Levi was flabbergasted, seeing how their last meeting resulted in them both being extremely annoyed and angry. However, he hugged her back. They released each other.

"What are you doing here?" Levi asked her.

"It's your birthday." She said and smiled. "And... eh... well, I know that it wasn't easy for you either." She sounded apologetic.

"Hailey, it's all right. You wanna come in?" He pointed towards the door and she nodded.

They went inside and sat in the living room. They hadn't spoken in a few years, Levi didn't even knew the man who gave Hailey her new surname.

"You know, maybe it was good you left." Hailey said. Levi frowned. "I mean, without having to care for you, the little money we had was just enough."

"Money, huh." Levi grinned melancholic. "The thing that motivates the world."

"And without it, people have no place in society..." Hailey continued Levi. "We both made a different choice. Who am I to say you made the wrong one."

"We can't possibly know. Maybe if I was there, I could've helped. Running away was the most selfish choice I could've made." He looked at the wall where the picture hung, but he had gotten rid off it angrily after he saw Hailey at the asylum. "Always thought I was being rational."

"You shouldn't always resisted against our help." Hailey comforted Levi in a weird way. He realized that he indeed always mistrusted his own family. "But it's good we are able to talk again."

"Definitely." Levi responded, quickly wiping away any upcoming tears. "There's a lot to tell."

"And everything in time." Hailey said as she stood up. "I think it's time I'm heading home."

"Yeah, I got some work to do as well, so..."

"I hope I didn't make it difficult for you." They walked towards the door.

"No, no. It's no problem. It's just a side assignment, nothing too difficult. It kinda bothers me actually."

"Why is that?" Hailey wondered, as she stopped in her tracks.

"Oh, this doctor, his name is Rubin, is doing some research that's right up my alley and he is not including me."

"Is he the one leading your current project, the man from the news."

"Yes, that's him. A brilliant man, but he sorta lives in his own world. It's hard to understand him sometimes."

She told him that it wasn't worth to be bothered by and they hugged one last time before saying goodbye. Levi enjoyed being able to be easy around his sister again. He went on to look through the trash to look for the picture of his family, finding it with a cracked casing.

However, now it perfectly resembled how his family was, and he proudly hung it back on the wall.

* * *

— \\\|/ —


	9. Chapter 9

_This is a work of (science) fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, business establishments, or locales is entirely coincidental._

VISION: A Cautionary Tale

* * *

 **Chapter 9**

Levi hadn't done much work on the life extension project the last few days. He had delivered his code to Rubin, who didn't even let him into his exocortex room anymore. It felt like he was being shafted.

One morning, he woke up with the sound of heavy pounding on the front door. Disturbed by the noise, Levi headed to the door and opened it.

In the doorway stood Hailey. A black eye and a small head wound marked her face, as well trails of tears running down her face.

"What happened?" Levi impulsively asked.

"Let me come in, please." Hailey cried. Levi grabbed her by the arm and took her inside. They sat down at the table and Levi asked again what had happened.

"He hit me, Levi." Hailey cried out. Levi had to think for a second before realizing he was referring mister Klein. He wanted to ask her why he did that, but instead decided to hug and comfort her. In his arms, she continued crying.

The tear stains were clearly visible on his shirt when he entered _Galant._ He had offered Hailey to stay at his place for the time being, but he still had to go to work.

He walked to Rubin's office and knocked on the door. Initially there was no response. After another knock and 30 seconds passing by, Levi got fed up.

"Rubin, answer me please!" He shouted. A response stayed away and Levi turned around.

He didn't want to waste his time, especially with his sister in despair at his home. When he passed by the reception, one of the receptionists called him.

"Doctor Cross, doctor Rubin is calling for you."

"I was just there." Levi responded annoyed.

"He just messaged me, saying he is waiting for you."

Levi was confused, but decided to go back upstairs to the office. The door was open now and Rubin sat behind his desk, his head resting on one arm.

"Why didn't you answer the first time?" Levi demanded an answer.

"I was busy." Rubin responded curtly.

"How does that-"

"Don't go there." Rubin interrupted him. "Please... I just want to ask you something."

"So do I." Levi said. Rubin made a gesture to let Levi know he should ask his question first. "Why can't I know what you are doing?"

"You can know." Rubin responded. Levi shook his head to show that that wasn't the true, but Rubin slid a disk drive to him. "This is the data I have collected the last few days. Everything is on it. I'm offering it to you for one afternoon to see what I've been doing."

Levi was surprised by this, but also felt satisfied. However, Rubin looked urgent.

"But may I advise you, that perhaps you don't want to know what's on it."

"Why not?" Levi asked suspiciously. Rubin sighed.

"There's a reason I shielded you from it. Your work is going viral rapidly. It isn't just ARC research anymore."

"Then what is it?"

"Look and you shall know. But take my advice dear, you don't want to know." Rubin had never looked as serious as now. Levi doubted wether or not he should take it. "Take it now and think about it, I expect it back tomorrow."

Levi took the data drive with him. He put it in a briefcase and returned home. At home, Hailey was sitting at the table with her hands clenched around a mug. She stared down onto the table. He asked Hailey how she was holding up.

"I'm fine." She responded curtly. She immediately sought to distract Levi and looked at the briefcase. "What's that?" Levi looked at the briefcase.

"This? Nothing. Well, it's something of Rubin."

"The professor? He didn't want you on the project right?"

"He's not allowing me on it, I gotta return it tomorrow." Levi sighed. "But honestly, how are you doing?"

"I said I'm fine. I just gotta think of what happened."

Realizing she needed some space for herself, and Levi needed some time to think of what he wanted to do with the data drive, he decided to go out of the house.

The rest of the day, he spend with just Smart at the Yacht Club, playing pool until the depth of the night. It was on Levi's request that they would go there, but Smart was more than happy to join.

"Let's do one last game before we call it a night." Smart said as he approached Levi with 2 beers. Levi took one and they toasted. "Cheers mate."

"Cheers." Levi muttered as he took a sip and put the triangle over the balls. Smart lined up a shot.

"How long have you known, Rubin?" Levi asked out of the blue. Smart took his shot first and stood back, grabbing his beer again.

"Too long. I was an intern under his watch. He taught me everything I know essentially."

"So you know him well?" Levi asked immediately. Smart raised his shoulders and took a sip.

"I don't know, he is a hard nut to crack." Smart looked at Levi, who was unnecessarily chalking the stick's tip. "Something's bothering you?"

"Yeah, I hoped this day would make me forget it a bit." Levi snapped back and stopped chalking.

"Just shout what it is." Smart said as Levi bowed down and took aim.

"Going for halves." Levi said before taking the shot, driving the full green ball into a corner.

"Huh, you got fulls." Smart smirked. "But seriously, you can tell me."

"Well..." Levi said as he lined up another shot. "Rubin gave me insight on his current research."

Smart frowned. Levi missed his shot, so Smart walked towards the position of the white ball.

"What was it about?"

"I don't know, I haven't seen it yet." Levi looked at Smart, who glanced back. He eyes revealed that he didn't know what he was talking about. "He gave me his research on a drive for me to look at today."

"That's good right? Some transparency."

"Yes, but he advised me urgently to not look at it." Smart stopped playing.

"That man is an enigma sometimes. Come on." Smart waved to Levi to follow him.

They stepped outside, overlooking the Atlantic. Smart made a gesture to show the vastness of what was ahead. Levi looked at it, the moon reflected in the golfing water.

"Tranquil isn't it?" Smart told Levi, waiting for a reaction. As Levi noticed that, he nodded. "Rubin always told me he was going to build his own country some day. No restrictions, only progress. And the perfect place to build it, was here." Smart reached out forward.

"A floating city."

"More like a sea scraper. It would be an heaven on earth. Well, the only heaven there is." Smart grinned and Levi laughed modestly.

"Why are you telling me this?" Levi asked.

"I don't know. Maybe to show you that this man has a bold vision. Perhaps you just have to trust him."

Levi nodded in agreement. The rest of the night, they stared onto the ocean. They finished their beers and waved goodbye.

As Levi returned home and stepped into the apartment, he saw Hailey touching the briefcase.

"What are you doing?" Levi asked. Hailey jumped up.

"Oh god, you startled me." She sighed. "I'm sorry, I got curious. Do you know what's on that drive?"

"Nope." He responded curtly. "And I don't want to know."

He told her to go to sleep and showed her the way to his bedroom. He returned to the living and laid down on the bank. What Smart had told him convinced him to trust Rubin.

The man knew what he was talking about. If he thinks it wouldn't be good for Levi, it probably wasn't. In cases like these, it might be better to not know the truth.

* * *

— 0 —


	10. Chapter 10

_This is a work of (science) fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, business establishments, or locales is entirely coincidental._

VISION: A Cautionary Tale

* * *

 **Chapter 10**

The next morning, Levi woke up and proceeded to wake up Hailey in the bedroom. However, she was nowhere to be seen upon entering it. In slight panic, Levi rushed around the house.

"Sir, you have one message." Jibo said. Levi froze in his tracks and walked towards Jibo. A message had been entered last night, even before he had gotten home. He activated the recording, hearing Hailey on the other end.

"I'm sorry I had to leave in the morning. It's not about you, I just got to be alone for a while. Please don't come after me, it's better that you do not get involved in my problems. I know tha-"

Levi cancelled the recording. He had heard enough and stroke his hair. At first it felt like they had started bonding, but that was just an illusion as came painfully clear. His own sister didn't feel save around him, which was the final nail in the coffin of Levi's relationship with his family.

He proceeded to go to the _Galant_ as usual. The briefcase sternly clenched in his fist. It wasn't opened anymore at home and he didn't plan on opening it now.

He and some others stepped out of the metro. The security was there according to procedure and Levi let it happen. The way to building however felt odd. The usual loudmouths weren't there that morning.

"Don't you find it quiet?" Levi asked. The guard frowned. For him that statement sounded ironic, as it was still extremely noisy outside.

"Not quiet enough for my taste." The guard responded. The missing sound was about to be overcompensated a second later.

An enormous roar was heard a few blocks behind them. Someone had detonated some type of explosive.

"What was that!" Someone shouted. Levi stood still as he looked in the direction of the source. Around them, protestors started throwing flares and amped firecrackers. The explosions threw caused sparks to fly around Levi and the others.

A wave of screams and shouts filled the streets. A few times, the phrase 'God is almighty' was shouted. The coercion fences were pushed to their limits, as the protestors violently tried to bring them down.

"Everyone get inside!" A guard shouted. He grabbed Levi firmly and they alongside another large group of people rushed into the security gates of _Galant_. The security alarms went rampant and the lights in the security tube turned red. Everyone had to be brought inside as soon as possible.

After getting inside, Levi immediately headed to Rubin's office. There, Smart was already in discussion with Rubin. Smart raged back and forth, while Rubin said calmly in his chair behind his desk.

"They are declaring war on us. 'War on transhumanism' is the official fucking slogan everywhere on the fucking internet." Smart snorted. "How long do you think this company is going to take before stepping in."

"Take it easy, Lyndon." Rubin tried to reason. He was extremely calm considering the situation.

"What is going on?" Levi asked.

"Look out of the fucking window." Smart said angrily as he pointed to the window.

Levi walked towards the window. Outside was a riot control team trying to fend off a wave of protestors. Flares and small explosives are thrown towards the security and the building.

"Calm down." Rubin said again.

"No I'm not calming fucking down." Smart spat back. "They've gone ballistic!"

"It's good that it's happening now." Rubin said. "Maybe it will finally generate some much needed backlash. Now Levi, did you see what's on the drive?"

"No I did not." Levi told Rubin while staring outside.

"Then can I get my briefcase?" Rubin asked. Levi looked down, seeing that he had the briefcase still in his hand.

"I can't fucking believe this. We're under attack and you think about work." Smart judged Rubin and he walked to the window, leaning against it while looking aside.

Levi handed the briefcase back to Rubin, who put it aside him.

"You have made the good decision here, Levi." Rubin assured him. Levi nodded, but also swallowed some regret. His curiosity was getting the better of him, especially now that Rubin was considering it more important than the tumult outside.

One of the security guards knocked on the door and stepped into the office.

"We've created a window to get the employees of the building out. We gotta evacuate everyone now." He said.

"I'm not coming, officer." Rubin said as he stood up from his chair. "I got some work to do."

"You are not seriously considering working right now..." Smart asked rhetorically, but Rubin remained confident. "I can't believe this. Get me out of here officer, I'm done." Smart walked past the officer out of the room. The officer waved Levi to follow him as well.

"Get out of her, Cross. Get home and get some rest." Rubin said as he walked towards the exocortex room.

Levi walked with the officer to the emergency exit at the back of the _Galant_. A lot of employees already were already gone, Levi was probably the last one besides Rubin. The officers surrounded him and walked him towards and armored vehicle, where he was put in the back alongside other employees including Smart, who still seemed upset.

"The man is bold, you said so yourself." Levi said. Smart smirked, but quickly swallowed that.

"He isn't one who could remain sober in this moment." Smart said. "I mean, he was the one running for president. If anyone would want to fight back, it's him. That's what's bothering me."

It indeed stung a little. Once at home, 2 security patrols kept monitoring the house. The last thing Levi had heard was the the rioters were backing down, but all heard were vague statements. He had sat on the couch the last hour, thinking about what could've been in the briefcase that was so important for Rubin to finish.

His cellphone rang. It was Langmore, someone Levi hadn't spoken with in months.

"Oh, thank god you're all right." Langmore said. "I thought you were still in the building."

"No, I was evacuated a while ago." Levi responded calmly. Then, it hit him. "Why, what happened in the building?"

"You don't know, it's all over the news." As Langmore said that, Levi rushed to Jibo and turned on the TV.

A news flash appeared. A distance shot over the _Galant_ was shown, with a gaping black hole in the top. Smoke rose from the remains of what once was Rubin's office.

"How's that possible...?" Levi whispered to Langmore.

"It's a terror attack. Although, that's what the news been saying." Langmore said.

"I eh... Gotta go, Lang." Levi murmured and put off the phone.

It was a haunting picture, knowing that a few hours ago he stood in the exact epicenter of the blast. The little hope he had of Rubin surviving was wiped away, as the news caster announced his death on live television.

* * *

— 1 —


	11. Chapter 11

_This is a work of (science) fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, business establishments, or locales is entirely coincidental._

VISION: A Cautionary Tale

* * *

 **Chapter 11**

A mere minutes after watching the news, Levi had requested to be brought to _Galant_. The guards were initially extremely hesitant, but Levi had already decided to go with or without them. After they were not able to stop him, they went with him to ground zero.

The police had quarantined the location. As Levi approached the entrance, a police officer apprehended him.

"Hold up, you can't go inside right now." The officer said Levi as he pushed him back slightly.

"I gotta get up there, step aside!" Levi responded furiously, trying to walk passed the officer.

"Forensics is still investigating the area of detonation." The officer reasoned. "I don't have any permission to let you in." The officer wasn't going to let him past, but from inside the building, Smart shouted towards him.

"Let him get inside." He shouted as he walked towards the officer. He put his hand on the shoulder casually.

"I cannot let every employee back inside the building, mister Smart." The officer replied while sighing.

"His name is doctor Cross. He worked with doctor Rubin and is here to collect vital research material inside the room of detonation, now let him come." Smart told the officer calmly. The officer hesitated for a second, eye-balling Levi who looked at the officer with the attitude of a VIP.

The officer nodded his head and stepped aside, waving his hand for Levi to follow Smart. Smart turned around and walked away, so Levi picked up the pace to reach him.

"Thanks for getting me inside." Levi whispered to Smart once he caught up with him.

"Well, I didn't lie." Smart started. "There's something you have to know." Levi raised a frown, wondering what Smart meant.

They continued to Rubin's office. All what was left were remains of what once were walls, the desk and something that resembled the exocortex. The rest had turned into piles of ash. The smoking charcoal beneath their feet crunched loudly. Multiple forensic officers were scattered around the room, investigating the scene.

"Do they know what caused the explosion?" Levi asked. Smart nodded and hesitated for a second.

"They believe it originated from the exocortex." Smart paused for a second, biting his lip while continuing to shake his head. "I don't see how that's possible, but they say so." Levi frowned.

"How did the protestors plant a bomb upstairs?" Levi wondered aloud. "Maybe they entered the building after the security cleared it."

"Maybe, but there's no indication of that." Smart responded sour. "This was a carefully planned attack, don't believe what these forensics say. Someone coordinated this."

One forensic investigator walked towards the pair. He took off his gloves to shake hands with Levi.

"I assume you were another colleague. I think we've found something very interesting, but I need you to confirm if what we believe is right." He said. Smart looked surprised and walked towards the exocortex. Levi followed in his trail. There was little left of the device, with only remains of the bench and the computer still standing. One man was analyzing the hard drive of the computer.

"What is it?" Smart asked.

"Well look at this data." The analyzer said as he turned around his computer screen to show Smart and Levi. The screen showed a model of brain activity. "I'll play the recording."

The analyzer presses a play button. The screen shows multiple areas of the brain lighting up, displaying the activity of the brain. Suddenly, all light dims until there's no time left.

"All right, you see Rubin die." Smart said curtly. "Thanks for the info." Through the sarcasm, you could hear the bitterness as he swallowed the end of the sentence.

"But look at the time stamp." The analyzer pointed at the moment of the brain deactivating. Levi and Smart bowed forward to see it.

"15:32..." Smart whispered. "That's 3 minutes before the explosion." The finding astonished Smart and Levi, who both didn't have a clue what that meant.

"Did Rubin commit suicide before letting the building explode?" Levi suggested calmly. It sounded weird to him, but it was the first thing that came up to him.

"Why would he do that?" Smart responded agitated.

"Creating backlash perhaps?" Levi's suggestion wasn't that odd if put into this perspective. They all didn't know what to say, so the analyst turned around to go back to work.

The rest of the day, they stayed in the room to see what else was found in the search, but nothing interesting came up. The analyst couldn't find any clue of the exocortex exploding, like a circuit crash or overload, so that meant something else had to be triggering the explosion, something Smart and Levi both firmly believed.

The day was exhausting. Levi joined Smart on the way out of the _Galant_. It was the next day already, as the 2 left in the pitch black night.

"So what are we going to do now?" Levi asked Smart.

"I don't know." Smart responded. "Going back to work is not an option." Levi nodded. They walked to the metro line. During the night, an automated system allowed to metros to keep going twenty-four seven.

"I guess we gotta wait what comes from the investigation." Levi said as they waited for the metro to arrive. "Take on the bastards responsible for this."

"Maybe we should make sure none of this happens again." Levi looked confused at Smart, as he bend forward, rubbing his hands. It seemed like he was brewing a masterplan.

"What are you thinking off?" Levi wondered, trying to get what Smart was thinking out of him.

"It's a stretch..." Smart started slowly. "But, just maybe... What Rubin would've done if he was still here." Levi remained silent, as if he was waiting for the rest of the sentence. Smart turned his head to Levi, a sinister but excited grim filled his face.

"Get the hell out of this hellhole."

Once Smart got at his stop, their ways departed. Levi sat alone in the metro the rest of the way. Thoughts ran rampant in his mind, especially what could've happened.

He never got to know what was in the briefcase. Maybe it held the answer to everything. Why Rubin would've committed suicide or what he was doing with the exocortex. Levi started chuckling. He just thought that it would be extremely sour if Rubin had finally found the missing link, the crown on his lifework.

And then it hit him.

He didn't get off the usual stop near his home. Rather he continued to tour around the city until the morning lights. He didn't move, he was stunned.

As the first wave of work-goers entered the metro and took a dim view of Levi, he snapped out of the trance and got of at the Park lane. He entered the park and sat down on bench, scouting the surroundings. Finally, he saw what he was waiting for. Hailey walked towards the asylum.

He waited the rest of the day. He had taken a quick stroll to get something to eat, but he had quickly got back to the park bench. As Hailey stepped back, Levi jumped up. He followed her back home from a distance, catching up when she got home. Before she could open the door, Levi shouted.

"Who are your friends?" Hailey froze.

"What are you doing here, Levi?" She asked softly, not facing him.

"Why?" Levi asked, slowly tearing up.

"What are you talking about-"

"Don't lie to me..." Levi cut her off. "Why did you do it?" No response came from Hailey. "Who made you do it?!" Levi yelled.

"Nobody made me do it." She said coldly. "They enabled me..." She seemed psychopathic almost. "Call the cops on me, but you carried the bomb."

"I'm your brother... and you used me as a pawn." Levi shook his head. "Do you think that's enough, getting you locked up. For a person so faithful, to commit such a sin." He laughed very quietly. "I- I'm going to kill your God. And I'm going to make sure the world will know that I did."

* * *

— |# —


	12. Chapter 12

_This is a work of (science) fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, business establishments, or locales is entirely coincidental._

VISION: A Cautionary Tale

* * *

 **Chapter 12**

Months had passed by. Hailey wasn't arrested as a perpetrator, though multiple members of a theocratic radical cult had been arrested as a result of the investigation. The truth remained hidden, as Levi hadn't shared that the data drive had been rigged and therefor the 'official' statement was infiltration and sabotage.

Langmore had visited Levi regularly. Their conversations were mostly about news the media spread at that time. The theocratic movement was losing support rapidly. One day, an interview with the president, who suggested that good christians were the example to follow, was the highlight of the entire media circus that was going on.

"He is trying his best to manage this chaos." Langmore said.

"What's there left to manage?" Levi responded rhetorically, feeling satisfied with the shifting public opinion.

Research was going better than before. Smart had sold research material from the exocortex research. As a result of this, significant developments were made in brain research.

One exemple was scientists mapping out brain activity, being able to predict thoughts and dreams through just looking at MRI scans. In response, some people who were still opposing just to oppose, started wearing tinfoil hats to reflect hidden MRI scanners from the so-called 'omnipresent government surveillance' in a Orwellian scenario.

However, Government regulations weren't eased off. By selling the research, Smart had made a fortune. With that money, he had realized Rubin's ultimate dream, Elysium.

Elysium was a sea scraper located in the atlantic ocean, just inside of international waters. Due to that, it operated as it's own independent nation, a scientific valhalla as it were. China was the first to build them to store the massive overpopulation, Elysium was the first independently build.

Levi hadn't spoken with Smart for months, who was too busy with setting up the ordeal. For a while, it was world news and political discussion. To show that Elysium was there to stay, Smart hired PMC to show force and keep the nations far away from the place. However, Smart finally had invited him to visit the city, and Levi accepted it gladly.

To get to Elysium, he had to go by boat. The place of department was chosen carefully, as it held nostalgic value. The yacht club was bought by Smart as well, who now used it to actually for its purpose, harboring yachts.

As Levi arrived at Elysium, all he could see was a large, grey flat platform. A few single satellites and towers were all that rose significantly above sea level. On the platform, Smart was standing, accompanied by a large security detail.

"Welcome to Elysium, Cross." Smart proclaimed as Levi stepped onto the platform. They shook hands, but eventually embraced each other. "I guess you want to see what kind of magic has taken place here?"

They walked to the center of the platform, where an elevator rose from beneath. They stepped in with a 2 security guards, while the rest stayed onto the platform. The elevator starting descending, showing the city that was build beneath the ocean.

"Security seems tight." Levi said.

"The best money can buy." Smart responded. "A place like this is too fragile to keep it unguarded. Throw one stone and the entire city sinks."

"I understand." Levi said. "But is there somewhere we can talk private by any chance?"

"Yeah, off course." Smart responded as he nodded towards one of the guards, who assigned a new level. The elevator stopped inside of a tube. The view was blocked as the guard scanned a biometric pass. The doors opened and Smart stepped out, gesturing that Levi could follow him.

They walked towards a private laboratory of Smart, quarantined from the rest of the sea scraper. In case of an accident, the laboratory could detach and float to the surface to prevail vital research.

Once they were alone, Levi confessed about what the explosion that killed Rubin and how he was partially responsible for it. At first Smart was disappointed by the news, but then agreed with Levi's decision to not tell anyone as it wouldn't have changed the outcome. He thanked Levi for letting him know anyway.

"I still can't believe that people think that our view of the future of the world is worse than doing nothing about it." Smart said as they continued to talk about the future instead of the past. "Consider the options: global improvement of our lives or some sort of spiritual enlightenment that works like a placebo."

"You can't reason with them." Levi sighed. "So you just gotta prove your point."

"Indeed. That's why Elysium is so important. No more government affairs and ignorant people intervening with progress. You know what to say about progress..." Smart waited.

"You can't kill it." Levi responded. They laughed, but the words reminded Levi of another reason to visit Smart. "That reminds me, there's another thing."

From his pocket, Levi grabbed the old tablet used for the first _Peregrine_ project. Smart straightened up from his chair, looking at the tablet.

"I want to continue Rubin's work." Levi said.

"I could probably arrange something for you, if that's what you want." Smart offered him suggestively. "I mean, there's enough room on Elysium for you."

"No that's not necessary, but thank you." Levi responded. "You got access to his research, so that must also mean you got access to his contacts, right?"

Smart nodded.

"I need to name of the man in Brussels." Levi said, as Smart made finally got where he was going.

"Right. I can set you up with that, no problem." Smart responded cheerfully. "So now you want to, huh?"

"It's my creation, so I got to do this..." Levi said. "Not just for me. Also for Rubin."

After Smart had promised to arrange a transfer to the Brussels _Sonder Institute_ sister facility, he gave Levi a tour around the rest of the city. It was the last time they would meet, and deep inside they knew it. Each one chasing their own dreams and even though they seemed the same, they could've never been more different.

After the tour was finished, they told their final goodbyes and Levi headed back to above the ocean.

Like how his life before going to _Sonder_ had closed after the chapter ended, so was this new chapter going to end. A new adventure awaited across the ocean. But more important than ever before, what happened throughout the year had to be remembered, as it shaped who Levi was going to be and what he stood for.

And why what he did, was never meant to happen.

* * *

— III —


End file.
